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"It will be," I promise, tucking strands of hair behind her ears. "The Vipers are causing problems."
"Oh no," she whispers, her expression falling. "Because of me?"
"No. This has nothing to do with you. As far as I know, your brother still doesn't know you're here," I say, holding her gaze so she knows I'm not lying to her. "They're angry with me because I cut them off financially. That's not on you."
"What…what kind of problem is it?" she asks, her gaze flickering across my face.
I hesitate for a moment.
"Please tell me," she whispers. "The truth may upset me, but I'm strong enough to handle it, Andreas. Please don't treat me like I'm not. Please don't leave me in the dark about things that impact my life too. I've spent five years living that way already."
"Fuck," I growl. "They're threatening to come after our people again, rabbit. After our women."
Her eyes fall closed, a sad sigh rippling across the space between us. "Connor," she says. "He's really doing it again."
"It looks that way," I murmur, wishing like hell that wasn't the case. Wishing like hell I didn't have to tell her this. She loves her brother fiercely, and he just keeps breaking her heart. She deserves so much better. It fucking kills me that he's too goddamn selfish to give it to her. "I'm sorry, little one."
"Me too," she sighs.
I scoop her up into my arms, holding her close to my heart for a long moment. She burrows into me, clinging like a little koala bear, her face pressed to my throat. She's quiet in my arms, far too quiet. I don't want to leave her like this.
"You should go," she says after a moment, pulling back. "Your brothers need you."
"So do you."
She gives me a wobbly smile. "Right now, they need you to help make sure everyone is safe," she says. "Once you're done with that, you can hold me all night. I'll be okay until then."
"Are you sure?" I ask, reluctant to leave her here alone.
"I'm positive." She tips her face up to mine. "Kiss me, Andreas Romano. And then go help your brothers protect our family."
"Our family?"
She gives me a little smile. "I’m kind of hoping they'll want to keep me."
"Oh, we're keeping you," I murmur, claiming her lips in a heated kiss.
The meeting at the clubhouse goes about how I expected it would. My brothers are pissed. Even those without women to protect are livid. They want to load up and ride for Copper Creek to solve this shit now, but Cash talks everyone down. We decide to keep everyone at the clubhouse for the next few days and beef up security.
The girls handle the news better than anyone else. Then again, women usually do. We spend so much time trying to protect them, we tend to forget that they're a hell of a lot stronger than we give them credit for. God knows, Catriona is one of the strongest people I know.
While the girls coo over Scout and Gloria and Rulie—the couple who help run the clubhouse for us—keep an eye on them, I pull my brothers aside for a discussion. Bender is still on tour and Damien "Angel" De Angelis is still in Belldonia, but everyone else is here. There's no time like the present to let them know about Catriona.
"I won't be staying here," I tell everyone.
"Uh, what the fuck?" Rafe "Lynch" Soracco bitches from his seat at the bar. "This is an all-hands-on-deck situation, motherfucker. You don't just get to opt-out."
"What Lynch said," Hands complains, scowling at me. He looks like he hasn't been sleeping much, but there's a lightness in his eyes that never really leaves since he claimed Samara. He's happier than I've ever seen him. "I'm moving my little girl in until this shit blows over. She doesn't need to be exposed to you assholes and your germs, but this is the safest place for her, so I'm taking a calculated risk. You aren't special. Pack your shit. You're staying too."
"I can't," I say quietly, glancing at him and then at Cowboy. "I've got Autumn staying with me." I pause. "And Catriona Grady."
"Say that again," Cowboy drawls, his blue eyes hard.
"Catriona Grady has been living with me for the last week and a half," I say quietly, meeting his gaze. "Before you get all pissy about it, you should know she moved in because she found out what the Hell's Vipers did to Kyra and left home. You should also know that she's going to be my wife so anything you say about her, you say about me."
Cowboy stares me down for a long moment and then huffs out a curse. "Jesus fucking Christ," he growls. "Did you plan on telling us?"
"I knew," Fifth says.
